The 2018 TOTAL BWF World Championships is now over and it is time to look back and reflect on the tournament organized in Nanjing, China, last week.

Carolina Marin was crowned women’s singles world champion of 2018, which means that she has written her name in the history books as the most winning women’s singles player ever at the world championships with a total of three titles; world champion of 2014, 2015 and 2018.

Besides a European title, 2018 has not been a year with many titles for the reigning Olympic champion from Spain. Marin showed impressive speed and winner mentality throughout the championship week and ran over every opponent on the way to the gold medal on Sunday.

Spain is the only European country that can bring a medal back to the European continent after the 2018 edition of the BWF World Championships. Denmark, England and the other European nations missed their chances and did not live up to the expectations.

Danish disappointment

The Danish delegation had two medals to defeat from 2017 in Glasgow, one of them being impossible as one half of the successful duo Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen has ended her career due to a pregnancy.

But to defend Viktor Axelsen’s gold medal was indeed a possibility, which was terminated when he was defeated by the Olympic champion Chen Long of China in the quarterfinal.

- At this championship I think that it has been characteristic for Viktor that his level has been swinging a bit too much. We are already in the process of evaluating on that and will of course return with a new plan for it, says Kenneth Jonassen, Danish national head coach to Badminton Denmark.

The Danish Sports Director Jens Meibom commented to the Danish association’s website that the 2018 World Championships will not go over in history as ‘a great Worlds for Denmark’. But he is confident for the future of Danish badminton due to the current and upcoming world class players.

Gabrielle and Chris Adcock took gold at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships this year, but unfortunately was not able to grab a medal at this year’s World Championships. A spot in the semifinals could have meant the first World Championships medal won by a British pair at a World Championships hosted in Asia since 1987 in Beijing.

- We unfortunately went out at the quarter final stage yesterday. Now time to reflect, regroup and recuperate. We’ve had a great tour of Asia starting in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, and two stops in China. Thank you for all your support. We’ll be back and focused for the remainder of the season. #headsup, the duo wrote on their official Facebook page on Friday.

After losing to the reigning Asia Championship champions, 21-13 21-18, it was evident that there would be no medal for England at the 2018 Worlds. And Wang Jilhu and Huang Dongping from China proceeded all the way to the final on Sunday.

Despite the lack of Europeans on the podiums, European badminton fans can start the countdown towards the 2019 TOTAL BWF World Championships. Switzerland will host from August 19-25 in the city of Basel, where the world’s best players once again is invited to compete for the titles of the world.